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Mk V General Service Respirator
|period = 1940s|countries-issued = 1940 - 1945 (approximately)|previous =Mk IV GSR |next = Self-Contained Respirator (Great Britain) ALAG (Australia) C2-1 (Canada)|issued = |filter = |aka = C1}}The Mark V General Service Respirator was a Second World War era gas mask issued to the British Armed Forces and to other armies in the Commonwealth. Overview The Mk V respirator, at its most basic level, was essentially another iteration of the Mk IV. First appearing around 1940, the design is not too much changed from the earlier Mk IV respirators - with the notable exception that the facepiece lacks the stockinette. The stockinette was removed for two main reasons. Firstly, it made the Mk V cheaper to produce in a war economy. Secondly, the small fibres of the stockinette were thought to be capable of trapping deposits of deployed chemical weapons, thus stockinette-covered masks presented a potential decontamination issue. Early Mk V respirators still had stockinette on the hoses but by 1941 this had also been removed, leaving the mask in just plain rubber. The microphone port became standard unlike on the Mk IV. Filters Type E Mk IV The Type E container was basically a brown-tan painted oval tin with an outlet tube at the top, with two inlet vents cut into one side close to the bottom of the container. Each inlet valve led directly into one diaphragm, containing two asbestos fibre pads in each one. The air then traveled through these and into a single diaphragm through a layer of charcoal granules and then through the last single diaphragm and finally to the breather tube. The container was attached to the breather tube with wire tied by a machine in the early stages. In 1938, the design was improved by replacing the wire with a clip that had a screw-fixed ring, which made replacement of the container easier in the field. On the base of the container was stamped the manufacturer, date of manufacture and also ‘No.4A’, which referred to the metal container style rather than the contents within it. Image081.jpg|Bottom marking of a Type E IV filter. image082.jpg|Technical drawing of the Type E filter. Type E Mk V In early 1940 Mk V made the EA extension filter finally unnecessary as it contained the plus filtration built in against arsine. The filter is the same oval tin with an outlet tube at the top and inlet vents cut into one side close to the bottom of the container but it is painted grey. image085.jpg Type E Mk VI Mostly identical to the Type E IV filter whit only change in the color (now it is brick red) and the inlet valve is a bit more resistant. It remained the main filter till the Respirator, Anti-Gas, Light series. image086.jpg Bags Mk VI Haversack Mk VIa Haversack Mk VIII Haversack Accessories Anti-Dimming Outfits The Mk III, Mk IV and Mk V Anti-Dimming Outfits came in small round tins whit unscrewable top and bottom, one side contained the cloth while the other the anti-dimming compound (Turkey Red Oil). The Mk VI was a flat round tin containing a cloth pre-soaked with anti-dimming compounds. image136.jpg|Outfit, Anti-Dimming Mk III and V Anti-dimming MK6.jpg|Outfit, Anti-Dimming Mk VI Anti-Gas Ointments Main article: British Anti-Gas Ointments Ointment for prevent or treat blister agent injuries on the skin. Ointment No. V.jpg|Ointment, Anti-Gas No. 5 Ointment No. V 2.jpg|Ointment, Anti-Gas No. 5 interior Anti-Gas Eyeshields Simple stransparent plastic visor with rubberised canvas straps. It was meant to be worn all time alongside with gas detecting paper. Off course nobody wore it all time but the Brittish army expected a First World War type war with common gas attacks. However the it was used during in North African against the sand. One pack was issued to each man, one pack contains 3 clear and 3 tinted eyeshields. There were 3 variants. The Mk I, Mk II and Mk III. The difference is minor. The Mk I came in a basic brown cardboard packet with the designation of the device printed on. The Mk II packet was changed to include basic decontamination instructions and was printed left to right on the front. The Mk III was printed in the vertical orientation. Eyeshields MK3.jpg|Eyeshields, Anti-Gas Mk III Anti-Gas suits External information References * The info in this article highly based on this: https://erenow.net/ww/british-military-respirators-anti-gas-equipment-two-world-wars/5.php Category:United Kingdom Category:Full Face Masks Category:Military Gas Masks Category:World War II Era Mask Category:Interwar Era Mask Category:Australia Category:Canada